


A Kitten for a Wolf

by Hatsepsut



Category: Dragon Age II
Genre: F/M, Fenris falls in love with a kitten, Fluff, Kitten, Tender - Freeform, cavities-inducing fluff.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-05
Updated: 2015-05-05
Packaged: 2018-03-29 03:38:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3880801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hatsepsut/pseuds/Hatsepsut
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Anders tells Hawke that there is nothing tender, nothing caring inside Fenris, she takes it upon herself to prove him wrong. Fenris has left her, but she knows that there is something good inside him, some tender side waiting to emerge. And with the help of a little kitten, she sets out to prove it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Kitten for a Wolf

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Defiant Anjeru](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Defiant+Anjeru).



As if a long trek back from the Wounded coast wasn’t enough, Anders had to be in a crappy mood, too. Hawke just shut her eyes, pinched the bridge of her nose and rolled her shoulders to relieve the tension. Anders was babbling about the oppression against mages and how nobody was doing anything to help end the tyranny of the templars and yada yada tada, giving her a serious headache. She had just helped a whole group of the blasted mages escape and he didn’t even have the decency to thank her. No, scratch that. She didn’t want his thanks, she just wanted him to shut up!

Luckily, Varric and Isabela were getting just as fed up and Anders suddenly stumbled to the ground and left a pained yelp. Hawke turned back to see Isabela and Varric exchange a high-five. Had Isabela just thrown a stone at Anders’ head? She raised an eyebrow at the pirate and she just shrugged.

“What?” Isabela said. “He was giving me a headache. I had to defend myself somehow.”

Varric nodded and smiled. “Yeah, Hawke, next time bring Broody along. At least he broods in silence.”

“Fenris on a mission to help mages? Are you daft, Varric?” Hawke laughed bitterly while helping Anders get to his feet. “He barely tolerates being around me ever since…you know.”

Anders shot Isabela a withering look. “The next time you come to me with a funny rash, Isabela, I’m giving you itching powder,” he grumbled while he rubbed the tender spot on his head.

“Ohh, poor baby got a booboo?” Isabela drawled sarcastically. “Here, I’ll kiss it and make it all better...”

“Keep away from me Isabela. Unlike some people in this group I know not to take strays to my bed. They either carry the filthiest diseases or they turn around and bite you in the ass. Ask Hawke.”

Hawke froze while she was helping him dust his robes and slowly  raised her eyes to his face. Anders realized the mistake he had made when her eyes narrowed and her lips thinned.

“Are you referring to me Anders?” she hissed. “Pray tell, what stray animal have I taken to my bed?”

In for a copper, in for a sovereign, Anders thought. He folded his arms across his chest and did his best not to look intimidated by the flinty look in her green eyes.

“I’m talking about that wild beast of an elf you took to your bed, Hawke. Didn’t he turn around and break your heart by leaving?”

“What is it to you Anders?” she clenched her fists. “And don’t you call him that again. Fenris is a good man, he just has …issues to resolve.”

“Bull and you know it. There is nothing kind or tender inside that monster,” Anders said, belatedly catching a shadow of pain that briefly crossed her face. He immediately regretted talking to her like this. It was obvious she had feelings for him and she was harbouring the hope he would one day return to her. He felt like a bastard for smashing that hope.

He looked away and then his head dropped. But Hawke wasn’t done with him.

“Stay out of my love life, Anders, if you know what’s good for you,” she hissed, her teeth clenched in rage, her face inches from his. She shoved him with both hands and he tumbled into the dust on the ground again.

“And for your information, “ she spat at him before she left, “you are dead wrong.”

* * *

She heard the little mewling sound minutes before going into her house. She was still fuming with what Anders had said and she barely noticed it at first. It was also raining heavily and the steady din of the rain on the tiles and stones tended to drown everything else out.

There. There it was again. A desperate meowing, growing fainter every minute. She looked around and saw the small shaft leading to the sewers. The noise was coming from there. She picked the cover or the hole, stuck her hand in and her fingers came in contact with something furry. Hoping desperately that it wasn’t a half drowned rat she was grabbing, she pulled the creature out and came face to face with a tiny kitten. The poor thing was soaked to the bone and looked ready to expire. She quickly shook it to make it spit out any water it had swallowed and tucked it under her cloak, rubbing it furiously to restore its warmth and circulation.

“Don’t worry, kitty,” she murmured as the pathetic creature started mewling, “I’ve got you now, you’ll be fine, you’ll see!”

She quickly knocked on the door of her own house and when a surprised Bodahn opened the door she gave him no time to ask questions.

“Clean rags, and a bowl of warm milk, Bodahn!” she ordered, making her way to the fireplace to warm the kitten.

* * *

“Are you sure you are not confusing me with the Abomination, Hawke?” Fenris asked looking at the little kitten in disgust. Shoot. And she had gone in all that trouble to make her look presentable; she had even tied a red bow around her neck.

“No, Fenris,” she patiently explained to him again. “She is for you. A present.”

“You are giving me...a cat....as a present?” Fenris rubbed a hand wearily across his forehead. “Whatever possessed you?”

“I told you,” she picked the little kitten up and absentmindedly stroked her pitch black coat making her purr. “I rescued her the other night, she was drowning. I can’t keep her; my dog scares her to death.”

“Why not give her to Anders, then?” Fenris asked, his eyes secretly following her hand as she tenderly ran it over the kitten’s lithe body. Lucky cat, he thought before he shook his head to clear such errant thoughts from his mind. He had left, it was final. No use craving what he himself had forsaken.

“I am pissed at Anders. He...he said some things that he shouldn’t. And you need her more, the mansion is crawling with rats,” Hawke looked around and shivered. She hated rats. “They will nibble you to death in your sleep one of these days.”

Fenris scoffed. “Any one of my rats will have your scrap of a cat as breakfast, Hawke. She is pathetic.”

“She will grow,” Hawke crooned to the little cat and brought the feline face next to her cheek. “Besides, look at this little face. How can you resist her?”

How indeed, Fenris thought, noting that the kitten and the mage had the same startling green eyes and the same pitch black colour of hair. The little scrap meowed at him and he held out his hand without knowing what he was doing. Next thing he knew, the kitten was curled in his arms and purring contentedly.

“See?” Hawke’s eyes were bright with joy. “She loves you already.”

She left some things for the kitten; a basket to sleep in, a bowl and some milk and some yarn to play with. As she was leaving, Fenris’ voice stopped her.

“What’s her name?”

She turned her head over her shoulder and shot him a sad smile.

“Since she loves you so much already,” she whispered, “call her Hawke.”

And then she left.

Fenris looked at the kitten bringing it in front of its face. Annoyed that he had disturbed her, she flicked her paw across his nose, its little claws drawing blood. Instead of throwing it to the floor and stomping on it as he would normally do, though, he chuckled and held it again, letting it cuddle against his heart.

“Hawke...how appropriate,” he murmured and noticed that the purring got louder at the sound of his voice. “Small, delicate, with killer claws. And pretty green eyes.” He smiled down at the kitten. “Yes, Hawke, l like it.”

It was then that the full meaning of Marian’s words registered and he gasped. Standing there alone with Hawke the kitten in his arms he thought of what she had said and felt like crying. She loved him. She still loved him after he had left her and broken her heart.

He felt like slumping down to the floor and crying, which he hadn’t done for as long as he could remember. How could she still even like him, let alone love him? He had left her and he could still remember the look in her eyes as he had walked through the door; pleading, beseeching, asking him not to go. And then her tear ravaged eyes the following day.

He had caused her pain and heartache, where she had only ever given him respect and acceptance. And now love.

The least he could do was take care of her namesake.

* * *

He actually found himself enjoying returning home to another living creature. He even found himself worrying about his little kitty when he was away, her name, Hawke the Cat, soon having been shortened to Hawcat. When he was away, he constantly worried that some horrid rat would make a meal of the tiny thing or that he would return and find her gone.

He even took the time to do some repairs around the mansion, afraid that she would escape through one of the holes in the walls, or fall to her death through a gap in the stairs.

Hawke had come visit him a few times, offering to teach him how to read, and he had agreed. Now, she came nearly every night, taught him for some time and then spent a half hour or so playing with the kitten on the floor.

He burned to ask her about that last line she had tossed him the other day, but his courage always deserted him at the last minute; he would just steal glances at her while trying to study his letters, painstakingly copying one after the other on pieces of parchment she brought him.

Only once she was gone would Hawcat deign to pay him some attention again and rub her lithe body sinuously against his legs. Although he shot her angry looks and accused her of treachery every time, he just couldn’t resist raising her up to sit on his lap where she would curl up and nap in total bliss, purring like a cat ten times her size. After all, what living creature in their right mind wouldn’t prefer Hawke’s company to his?

When Anders had found out Hawke had given him a cat, he was indignant. He demanded Hawke should go and rescue the kitty from him. “He will probably eat her, or toss her out the window the first time she gets into mischief,” he had said. Hawke had just looked at him sternly and replied that Hawcat and Fenris got along very well together, thank you very much. She then said “I told you, you were wrong about him”, a statement that made Fenris wonder what exactly the two mages had fought about. It apparently had to do with him.

 Varric came back his house one evening, looked at the cat, looked at Fenris, smiled, said “aha!” and left. Crazy dwarf!

Isabela also came around one day, saw him playing with Hawcat in front of the fire, remarked that he seemed to be good with pussies and propositioned him once again. Hawcat hissed at her and even tried to scratch her and Isabela looked at her with wide eyes, while Fenris laughed. It seemed his little kitty was as protective of him as her namesake.

Months went by, and the kitten grew into a beautiful cat, with a luxurious black coat and enigmatic , soulful green eyes. She prowled the house all day long, killing mice and rats and laying them all by his feet as a present.  Seeing how she refused to eat her kill, Fenris bought fish for her, although seeing her eat them was sure to make him want to gag. He actually picked the cat up and kissed her when she made a disgusted face and pushed the fish away from her with a paw.

She would curl up on his lap every night and he found himself talking to her on more than one occasion, telling her of what had happened that day, of what troubled him and worried him. When he got drunk, she sat by his head and cried fretfully; when he was uneasy and paced in front of the fireplace she paced with him; when he was sad she rubbed herself all over him and purred.

He really couldn’t imagine himself living without her anymore.

But then, he came back one night to find her gone. His heart was nearly broken. He looked everywhere for her, called her name until his voice was sore. He decided to wait. Cats were independent animals. Maybe she would return.

When two days had passed without his little Hawcat returning he went to tell Hawke. She got incredibly upset and insisted they should go look for her again.  They both searched the house top to bottom together and when they couldn’t find her, sat morosely on the stairs, side by side and just stared at the opposite wall.

“I can’t believe you lost her,” Hawke finally whispered, making him bristle. He hadn’t lost her, she had left! He had taken very good care of her, it wasn’t his fault the damned cat had left!

“It’s just a damned cat, Hawke.” He growled. “She was making my life difficult anyway.”

 She looked at him then and he was shocked to see tears shimmering in her eyes.

“She wasn’t just a cat... “ she whispered and got up to leave. He shoulders were slumped and her head was bowed. She walked to the door, wrapping her arms around her as if she was suddenly cold.

She looked at him over her shoulder and he was even more speechless to see tears running down her lovely face. Strong, confident, cheerful Hawke crying over a pet?

“She loved you and you let her go,” she whispered. “You’ve made a habit of it, do you know that? _You lost her_.”

Fenris was suddenly chilled to the bone. She wasn’t talking about the cat, she was talking about herself. _Since she loves you already, call her Hawke_ , he remembered her words. _She loved you and you let her go_.

“Have I?” he asked without thinking. “Lost her, I mean? Forever?”

She smiled a wan little grin then.

“She might come back to you,” she replied softly. “If you really want her to.”

“I do. More than everything. But she is just a cat. How do I tell her?”

She tilted her head to the side and studied him. A small smiled played on her lips. “You show her.”

“How do I do that?” he stalked towards her, coming to stand just before her, inches separating their bodies.

Hawke’s eyes were huge as they roamed over his face, taking in the way his pupils had dilated with hunger and arousal, the flush on his high cheekbones, the way his pulse started thumbing in the hollow of his neck.

“You pet her.”

“How? Like this?” his hand came to tangle in her hair and stroked down the luxurious curls falling down to her back. Her soft gasp gave him the answer he wanted.

“Yes,” she dreamily replied. “Just like this.”

“What else?”

“You hold her.”

His hands were around her even before the words had left her mouth and they both sighed at how good, how right it felt to be in each other’s arms again. Fenris trailed his hands down her back, resting them at the hollow of her back.

“What else, Hawke? How do I show my little kitten how much I like her?”

“You could let her rub against you.”

“Hmmm...how would she do that?”

Hawke arched her body back and run her hands down his torso, glad he wasn’t wearing his usual spiky armour, so she could feel his warm muscles under his tunic. His head dropped back and she took the opportunity to nuzzle his throat, her tongue coming out to lick playfully along the lyrium lines decorating it.

Fenris groaned, a deep rumbling sound vibrating in his chest, and drew her body even closer, burying her head in the crook of his neck, silently inviting her to nip and lick at the sensitive skin leading up to his pointy ear.

“Anything else, Hawke?” he murmured in her hair, his breath coming in short, excited gasps.

“You might think of kissing her once in a while...” Hawke suggested dreamily, her mouth trailing over the sensitive tip of his ear, making him gasp and groan.

He smiled and caught her lips in his in a tender kiss, a kiss that didn’t demand but cajoled, asked and pleaded. Soft lips applying the minimum of pressure, his tongue slowly, reverently running over her bottom lip and his breath mingling with hers. She moaned his name and that seemed to make him snap. The kiss deepened and his tongue started dipping into her mouth, tasting her and making her burn.

He pulled back to look into her eyes ad what he saw there must have pushed him over the limit of his control, because he picked her up, carried her to his bed and proceeded to ravish her time and time again. They lost count of how many times their bodies came together, both of them desperate in their hunger for each other, until they could barely move from exhaustion and fell asleep a tangle of limbs and bodies.

They woke up early in the morning by a sound of a soft mewling and both raised their heads to see a familiar black cat blinking at them, with a tiny kitten in her mouth. Hawcat left her offspring on the blanket between them and ran to get the rest of her babies.

Hawke smiled at Fenris and he smiled back at her, love and hope in both their eyes.

Marvellous idea.

 

 


End file.
